overlash

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ lash. Compare dialectal English lash (“extravagant”), lashing (“lavish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈlæʃ/
• Rhymes: -æʃ

Verb

overlash (third-person singular simple present overlashes, present participle overlashing, simple past and past participle overlashed)

1. To physically tie additional wires or cables to those that are already attached to a utility pole, accommodating any additional strands of fiber or coaxial cable on existing pole attachments
2. (obsolete) To drive on rashly; to go to excess.
3. (obsolete, by extension) To exaggerate; to boast.
   • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:

     it being well known , that they in their encomiastic speeches , as orators are wont , following the heat and gaiety of fancy , do sometimes overlash

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “overlash”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)